Tuesday, September 12, 2006

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to go the Marcelo Garcia Gi seminar at the Combat Fitness Gym in Toronto. First I want to say that I have always been blown away by watching Marcelo work his game. It is like some out of this earth turbo jitsu that only conforms to the most basic of bjj elements. The rest of his game is a sort of a counter jiu jitsu that allows him to walk past and step over what other people train over and over. It defies, no, redefines logic.

The seminar only lasted 3 hours and it was done in a progressive style; first do this, practice. Now add this. Practice. Now do this, because this could happen. Practice. This really helped drive home the fundamentals which in my opinion were the "Atari" or "Joystick" grip which he uses to save his fingers from thrashing, a "Leg Control" sweep to awkwardly put an opponent off balance, and the "Arm Drag" to steal an opponent's back.

It was clear that the techniques presented were effective; check out Marcelo's record. But what really surprised me was the simplicity. His game plan is awesome because it is so simple once broken down.

After the seminar I took another look at a video I put up in February, re-posted below, to see if what we learned was present in his matches. The first match I watched in the video was the entire seminar. The arm drag, the "Leg Control" sweep, the taking of the back, and the finish. Awesome!

And as for meeting Marcelo, he is just a happy nice guy. You would never know he was a World Champion from talking to him. And when I found out he is only 23 years old, I was in shock. I suppose age has nothing to do with mastery of an art. Thank you Marcelo!

Ous.

P.S. If Marcelo Garcia comes to your town, go to the seminar. Do not miss it!